Brightfeather, I would appreciate it if you could furnish source references for that very interesting information. I had not come across any of that, and would indeed like to spread the word. Send to muddytracks [at] earthlink [dot] net (Frank, I edited your email address so the spambots will not find you) or post here, if you would.

Dove, you touch on several issues that I discuss in a book I wrote on maintaining health and wellness through visualization. I don’t know what the eventual title will be (just heard yesterday that I have a publisher!) but I call it Imagine Yourself Well. One point I make is that our bodies are intelligent and can communicate with our minds as though they were separate individuals. Ultimately this is the way into and out of probably every physical illness — and wellness — we will ever experience.

The thing is, though, that if you are going into diabetic shock, you may not be able to wait to become able to control your body through visualization and other means: Insulin, synthetic or otherwise, may be the only thing that will save your life. I won’t belabor the point, but a moment’s thought will provide examples.

Remember, too, that synthetics are as alive as anything else in the world. The difference between “living” matter and “dead” matter is more in our perceptions than in any real distinction. No point in demonizing synthetics as if they were something “other.”

It’s interesting that the natural herbs are, um, causing problems primarily when they interact with unnatural substances (and, of course, no doubt if they’re used in excess, which would apply to anything), just like the naturalness of the body has problems with them. Nature at war with not-Nature. Go figure.

@ Frank

I chuckled at your last line there. What do any of us know? Hmmm. What I’ve come to know is that we know everything, it’s just a matter of retrieving that wisdom And as stated in a previous thread, the body is profoundly wise — it definitely knows the truth. Always.

The thing is, our precious bodies are so brilliant — and they do the best they can with what we give them. And so often that’s not much…or worse, something vile like pharmaceuticals, etc. It will take a foreign substance, and do the best it can with it, with our survival its top priority.

And the amazing mind-body connection will make almost anything heal us for a time — as long as we have that powerful belief that it will. I always remember this one study I read about per John Harvey, PhD. A group of pregnant women, all had morning sickness, were given “medicine” for it, a high percentage were “cured.” They had been given something that actually induces vomiting We’re amazing beings, ya’ know? So often, it is “all in our minds” … what we believe.

In my view, the only thing pharmaceuticals do is to push down the symptoms of something that is invariably rooted in emotional and/or spiritual issues. In fact, that goes for herbs, but at least they mesh with the Nature of the body.

I remember seeing Caroline Myss on Oprah a while back…she’s amazing. A medical intuitive. She just looked at this guy and knew that is health issues, liver problems, were due to is anger. So many are realizing this, that the physical manifestation of dis-ease is invariably a reflection of some emotional muck or trauma. If we ever learn how to really connect with our emotions, how to respect them…and see how precious and amazing our bodies are, love and honor them…instead of poisoning them…then, I believe, our incessant dis-ease will cease to be a common thing.

We have been lead to believe that pharmaceuticals are our only choice — that they are these amazing substances. That’s a lie. There are so many different types of alternative therapies that can truly guide the body to healing. No, ya’ can’t just pop a pill. Healing can be, and usually is, a long process, one that most people aren’t willing to endure when they’ve been lead to believe that a pill will fix ‘em right up. Unfortunately, that easier road ultimately leads to a rougher one further on down the road of their lives.

If you push down these symptoms with artificial substances, dishonoring the body and ignoring the real issues, it will just come out somewhere else later on. Nature, of which our emotions are a part, is so very powerful. It’s quite foolish to believe we can truly control it. The consequences of screwing with Nature? Behold a dying world with its sick, grotesquely overweight, emotionally/spiritually “lost,” self-loathing people in denial…

I’ll concede that if pharmaceuticals are a legitimate answer, they sure as hell should not be an ongoing one. We aren’t machines. Again, it is harming the body when one swallows (or otherwise consumes) something that is so very far from Nature.

Dove

Below are some common contraindications that friends of mine were not aware of. Perhaps you would like to spread the word where appropriate to do so.

# Echinacea taken with steroids, alcohol or AIDS medications can lead to liver damage.
# Garlic supplements can prevent diabetes medications from lowering blood sugar and increase the risk of bleeding from Coumadin (warfarin).
# Ginkgo can increase blood pressure and act as a blood thinner, so shouldn’t be taken with aspirin, warfarin or MAO inhibitors.
# St. John’s wort doesn’t mix well with antidepressants, anticonvulsants, narcotics, oral contraceptives and Lanoxin (digoxin), a cardiac drug. It can reduce the effect of these drugs and increase the chance of seizures, confusion, nausea and fatigue.
# All herbs with diuretic properties, such as dandelion and juniper, when combined with lithium can increase levels of lithium in the blood and possibly cause slurred speech, confusion, hallucinations, coma, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, blurred vision, low blood pressure and palpitations.

Quite aside from this we do have cause for concern when it comes to pharmaceuticals in groundwater and in both plants and animals we eat.

Remarkably those flushing urine filled with birth control pill residue and with viagra, etc. seem unaware that residues from these drugs are being found in groundwater aquifers.

My experience with drugs goes back nearly six decades, to when I contracted asthma as age two. From that point on until a couple of years ago, when I finally (I think – I hope!) figured out how to control it, my choices were to use pharmaceuticals such as inhalers or pills or injections – or suffer for night after night sometimes as long as six weeks at a time.

I am not (to put it mildly!) a fan of the over-medication that has become common in our society in the past few decades. Yet how could I condemn them outright, when my life has depended, sometimes, on the effectiveness of such products, and when I have seen friends and family needing such things? My daughter is asthmatic. She uses an inhaler much more than I am comfortable with, but she has not yet learned how to control it using mental tools such as those that took me a lifetime to learn. Perhaps she never will. If she doesn’t, or until she does, should I hope that the tools she relies upon will disappear?

I incline to think that the increase in adverse reactions comes not (or perhaps not primarily) from increased *consciousness*, but from increased *use*. I think too many people are using too many products too often, and the natural result is that our bodies are adjusting and saying – “this is too much! This is more than I can handle! You will have to find another way to cope with your medical problems.”

On the other hand, what do I know? What does anyone know? We may just have to see.